Id argue that he hasnt been "off the pace" (whatever that means) either given hes contributing just as much if not more than the others in our pack outside of Lucas.
He literally played origin in 2023 while with us so thats also a bit of a harsh assessment on the guy.
Im not sure how many backrowers are on $700k but im more than willing to bet his numbers over the last 5 years hold up to most of them. Name a few and id be happy to look.
Hes also now playing in the middle and getting older, sure, but hes been a valuable contributor over his time here and suggesting otherwise isnt being truthful imo
Just doesn't pass the eye test for me. His impact is really low. I'd imagine he's quite low on the list of tackle breakers, line breakers, try scorers. I don't know if they provide a public statistic for forcing errors but I imagine he's low on that list too. He just doesn't impose himself on a match in any way. It all kinda just happens around him.
As for metres... you probably rated Aiden Tolman as the greatest prop who ever lived, too? It's all well and good to bang out big metres (which I don't think Friz does either tbh, 100m isn't the high bar to clear for a well paid NRL player). Friz gets dominated in contact often and has done for a while. He doesn't have his explosiveness and has been in decline for ages (which is why people have been pushing his move to the middle for a good 18 months or more now too).
But at the end of the day, it's just my opinion. I don't mind us lowballing Friz as much as I do them lowballing Gags. Pretty much all it comes down to.
Friz ain't on 700k anymore, that was his first deal here that ended in 2023
What's he on now? I'm not sure it changes my maths or care factor unless he's on like 400k - but maybe I'm being a little harsh.